Side Story 22: The Battle at Castle Teullon. [Release Version] (Patreon)

The wind around Silva began to stir, transforming itself into numerous four-winged butterflies, floating around Silva as her eyes began to glow like a rainbow. Tasianna looked at the wind elf and bowed like a devout believer, her head kept low as if she was reluctant to gaze up. Saori, on the other hand, gave a short bow in wonderment as she sat down on the cold ruin floor due to the damage she received to her legs in her fight with the garms.

However … this wasn’t today’s story.

Let us turn back time, before Saori’s forward group’s battle with the onnikai garms and boss. Would we follow Hestia’s endurance battle against the onnikai beast—a destructive deathmatch between two mammoths—No, it was more accurate to compare them to the size of a six story building when it comes to their length. And these giants were leading an explosive battle within a forest, setting it ablaze in an inferno of glory fitting for this battle between two city-wrecking threats.

However, no.

The reason was that another battlefield was being held during this day. On this one, neither side possessed a dragon idol blessed by multiple gods, a beast created through the condensed mana of a wrath-filled onnikai, or a descendant of a legendary wolf monster leading a pack of shadow monsters.

“Fire! Fire! There is a fire in the forest!” A sentry shouted from a watchtower of a noble’s castle. He was one of the soldiers of Baron Teullon’s army that saw Hestia bring the villagers from Rashan Village to the castle for their safety. By the order of the army captain, Zik, the sentries of the castle were to report any unusual activities.

… That is truly a large fire … She wasn’t exaggerating when she called it a ‘Sea of Fire.’

Zik saw the results of Hestia’s [Dragon Fire] song firsthand. Her flames might not have scorched the whole woods down due to its arena creating effect, but it was large enough for people from the castle to see it, despite how far away it was from Rashan Village and Baron Teullon’s castle. Zik couldn’t help but gulp as he witnessed the power of a mage.

Although Zik was the commanding officer of a noble’s army, he hasn’t had much experience with mages on Hestia’s level. Baron Teullon was a noble, but he was of the second-lowest rank. A noble’s rank usually was affected by a noble house’s history merits and pedigree, which was indirectly affected by their current head’s combat prowess. For a baron, being able to create environment destruction at Hestia’s scale was a pipe dream.

Despite being distraught at the rising fire and smoke coming from that patch of the woods, Zik remained composed outwardly. He remembered Hestia’s words and ordered his men to keep a lookout for any enemies, explaining that “the Lady Shrine Maiden is fighting the foe.”

W-what is she fighting to use this much power? I-isn’t she a priestess of the Goddess?! How can she create this much fire? Shouldn’t we try to run?! That fire will spread to us soon enough!

The soldiers witnessing the fire weren’t able to fully accept Zik’s words. Some were anxious as they imagined the small noble girl they saw today fight against an enemy so powerful that she had to use such a huge spell. Some couldn’t understand how a shrine maiden of Aurena was able to create such a massive spectacle when it was usually the fire mages of Danterno’s area of expertise. Some were even afraid of the fire itself, believing an inferno of this intensity would reach the castle in no-time.

Whatever it was they thought of the situation, all of them felt the same emotion.

Fear.

Fear for the amount of power that was shown.

Living beings, whether it was on Earth or Peolynca, always feared the unknown. The inability to explain a concept resulted in being unsure of what actions they should perform next. If a might surpassing them by a landslide were to show up, a normal person—whether human, beastman, elf, or any other sentient race—would retreat back to their natural instincts of fight-and-flight. To preserve their own lives—this fear was rational.

They didn’t know Hestia. They weren’t aware of her abilities, only knowing she was a noble of a greifnoble’s level and an adventurer from the hunter’s guild. These soldiers weren’t part of a greifnoble’s army nor the royal army, so their knowledge of mages was mostly restricted to Baron Teullon’s family and hired mages from the mage’s guild. They were like frogs inside a well, peering up to only see a part of the wide sky.

To them, this was like the might and terror of a natural disaster appearing right in front of their doorsteps. It was bone-chilling to all of them.

The only soldiers who were able to remain relatively composed were the guards and militia led by the guard captain Dan. That wasn’t to say they weren’t alarmed. They witnessed Hestia, Saori, and Tasianna fight to protect their village, but it was only a glimpse of their abilities, so seeing the firestorm before them was still surprising.

However, these people have already witnessed the attack from the onnikai and they were also aware of what the girls told them before they were brought to the castle. While the soldiers from the army slowly descended in chaos, the guards and militias kept careful watch of the surroundings as their thoughts repeatedly wavered between the casualties from the onnikai attack and their loved ones hiding inside the basement of the castle.

And this cautiousness rewarded them.

“M-monsters! They’ve come!”

“B-bell! Somebody ring the bell!”

As if it was coordinated, the large pyre was like a flag signaling the arrival of dozens of onnikai zombies. As most of the corpses were destroyed during the initial attack of the girls, most of the zombies today were those made from monsters. Due to the high concentration of mana surrounding the ruins, to the point, it nearly transformed into a dungeon, many weak and strong monsters were born due to monster spawnings.

These monsters were then slaughtered by the combined power of the remaining onnikais and their corpses were quickly possessed by free onnikai, effectively regrowing the army to a fearsome size. It hasn’t reached its former glory, but for an attack on a human village, the size was just about enough.

Shit! The attack actually came! Damn that bitch!

Hearing the ringing bell, the seneschal Evalk rushed to the balcony of his office. His eyes widened as he saw the zombies approaching the castle. His expression was a mix of irritation, nervousness, and fear. However, it wasn’t towards the onnikai.

He was confident the zombies wouldn’t be able to breach the castle—knowing this, he wasn’t afraid for his life. However, what he was worried about was the fact that his lord, Baron Teullon, ordered him before he left for Artorias’s capital that he wouldn’t tolerate any damage to the castle. This included the walls and gate.

Like many living beings, Evalk feared for the safety of his life. Baron Teullon’s eyes and voice still sent a shiver down his spine, and this fear caused him to object against Hestia’s request before he learned of her identity.

Like many commoners under the rule of a noble, he knew about the dangers of angering one. He couldn’t reject Hestia’s words once it came to light that she was backed by a marquess, a duke, and even his King, but that didn’t mean he could excuse himself if he went against his Lord’s commands.

Would Hestia come to his rescue if Baron Teullon ordered his execution for failing his responsibility as a seneschal? Would Duke Greenveil chastise Baron Teullon’s actions? Why, Duke Greenveil probably didn’t even know Evalk existed. Would the King personally pardon him, if he told him his story? It would probably be impossible from the confines of the prison if he were lucky. If luck wasn’t on his side, he would be cut down the moment the execution order was given.

Evalk knew Hestia only thought of the safety of the villagers, especially after he reviewed the content of the Quest descriptions he personally issued to the hunter’s guild. However, he could only think of her as the villain in this instance. Her actions were threatening his life. To him, it was a noble abusing her privileges to create a favorable situation for her alone.

“Captain Zik, protect the castle at once! Use every force necessary!” Evalk ordered from the top of his balcony. “Use all the arrows, take the healing potions from my room, burn them with oil and fire! I don’t care what you use, just protect the castle and its walls! Soldiers and subjects, for your home and our Lord, Lord Baron Teullon, we must fight and repel this threat! For the Goddess’s priestess has blessed us today!”

Please, Goddess, please, I beg you to spare me today. Please, I beg you to grant us your protection!

It was a plea of desperation, but for the unknowing soldiers, it was a call to action. The seneschal, the representative of their noble lord, ordered them to fight and allowed them the free use of any resource inside the castle to fight back. The threat was made clear to them, and although it was unnerving to hear how dangerous the enemy was, they couldn’t help but yell in fervor. This fervor also infected the less trained and more agitated village guardsmen and militia.

The only one, outside of a few castle staff members, who knew this was a plea was Zik. He knew the seneschal’s true personality and also the words he received from Baron Teullon. It was a selfish plea to protect his life, but he kept this information to himself. Evalk gave a good motivational speech and for Zik, that was enough.

It wouldn’t do anybody good if I were to speak back to him. In the first place, I am a soldier. The order is given, and I will fulfill them to protect my home!

“Archers! Arrow!” Zik, using his bellowing deep voice, shouted as he raised his sword like a flag. The archers diligently took out an arrow from their quiver and held it on their bowstrings. “Hold! … Fire!”

Once the frenzied onnikai reached a certain point in their mad rush, Zik lowered his sword in a slash motion, signaling the archers to release their arrows in a volley, raining down onto the horde of zombies. Even if a single archer wasn’t very proficient with the arrow, as long as they could shoot it upwards and land it somewhere nearby to a group of enemies, they would hit something. In a siege, any enemy slain before they reached the walls would increase the advantage for the defenders.

However, these weren’t normal enemies. Devoid of the corpses of humanoids, the onnikai army was composed entirely out of monster bodies. Some were rank G and F who were instantly killed by a single arrow, but the few who possessed the bodies of rank E and D monsters could shrug off the arrows using their bodies’ physical features and skills.

“Guwraaaaah!”

“Mehehehehhe!”

Some of these were undead equerochs. Normally, these monsters could be simply called animals as they were mostly used as animals of burden. Tamed ones had the personalities and attitudes of a grazing cow or easygoing horse, even the bulls were generally easy to handle. However, wild and feral ones were a different subject.

Due to their sturdy bodies and high stamina, humans used them as carriage horses and farm animals, so what would happen if you were to use these animals as beasts of war? Like a ram, these zombie equerochs ignored any arrows with their muscles and fat, galloping like a horse through the field to ram the wall gates with their ox-like horns, leaving holes behind.

Shit! No, no, we can repair the gate. It’s just wood. After this is done, I’ll just order the villagers to fix it, it’s no problem even if the whole gate is torn down. I’ll just say I paid for an improvement.

Zik, seeing this charge, delegated his current role to one of his commanders, and rushed over to another part of the castle. He was shouting orders non-stop, leaving no soldiers to idle

“Spearmen, shield up, poke through the holes once those equerochs finish their charge!” he commandeered the gate defenders, before eyeing the people running on the top of the walls. “Faster! Bring the animal fat faster! Lass, it is hard, I know, but if you don’t want to join the frontlines, then you better move faster!”

He then eyed the many teenagers amongst the militia, knowing they were frightened. However, desperate measures demanded the bravest of hearts. “Stop shaking soldier! You are a brave soldier, right now! Not a kid—you are a man! Any hesitation on the battlefield will mean your death. If you want to protect your family and your life, hold your shield and spear up no matter what!”

Aside from the soldiers he has trained up since he took up his post as the army captain, Zik also had to deal with the guardsmen and militia. Dan was a competent guards captain in Zik’s opinion, but the guards barely had a budget for the training. They couldn’t be compared to soldiers. Still, they were more competent than the hastily conscripted militia.

Among them weren’t just laborers and farmers, but also young men and women who had just reached adulthood. Although child soldiers were frowned upon on some Earth, Artorias only had laws to prevent children who haven’t reached the age of 15 to be forcefully conscripted. In a moment of survival, even young men and women had to join the fight.

Due to the Divine System, after all, men and women were treated similarly when it came to warfare. As long as you trained, gender mattered little.

While the soldiers and villagers fulfilled whatever order was given to them by their superiors, a shout suddenly echoed through the castle. “More enemies! More enemies are coming!” the archers cried out.

While monster spawning wasn’t common enough to be produced like a factory, it was still numerous enough when one viewed how large the ruins and their surrounding area was. Monsters spawned inside the ruins and the woods. They would be killed by the onnikai and the corpses would then be given to their bodiless comrades.

The onnikais who stayed behind to hunt monsters and those who weren’t imprisoned by Hestia’s fire arena went to the castle as their primary goal was always to take revenge on humans and take over their bodies. As Hestia and the girls planned, they ignored the empty village and congregated towards the castle.

We’ll run out of arrows at this pace—Huh? Shit!

As Zik was looking at the army of onnikai, he suddenly noticed the sight of a couple of rank D monsters he didn’t want to see. It had large, thick hind legs designed to jump, long ears like a rabbit, and a long sharp horn like a unicorn on its forehead. They were looprizsars.

Aside from these jumping terrors, there were also monsters with hides thick enough to ward off swords, those who could spit venoms like a projectile, and giant insects with sharp sickles like mantises, to name a few. Grimgarians, due to their status as monsters and humanoids, were also among the horde. Zombie kobolds, goblins, and orcs spawned from the mana concentration in the area were attacking.

Zik paled as he looked at the army. He couldn’t help but believe today would be the day he would die. For the average human, rank G and F monsters were easy enough to slay due to the stat difference between them. E ranks, on the other hand, required training and combat skills to defeat, while a rank D was a threat only defeatable for a soldier if he ganged upon it with others. Sadly, only if it was alon.

Due to the number of monsters, the archers couldn’t keep up with the rising number of monsters and they eventually reached the castle gate. Monsters able to climb began to scale the walls while those with powerful jumps completely avoided the blockage. Whether it was at the gates, at the sides, or the back of the castle, the onnikai attacked the walls at all sides. Chaos began to ensue from these monsters.

The soldiers, trained to deal with D rank monsters, were able to respond correctly and ganged up against any invader. Even if they individually had no chance, by combining weapons and shields together, they were able to challenge these fearsome zombies. However, that couldn’t be said about the guardsmen and militia.

While the guards could fight decently under the command of guard captain Dan, they were generally weaker than the soldiers who not only had better skills but also higher levels. The militia had an even harder time as they barely had any experience in fighting monsters of this level, especially when they were relentless, unfeeling moving corpses.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaah! Kyak, ahhh …”

“Kyahhhhhhhhhhh, kyak, kya, arrrrrgh! D-daddy!”

“Arrrrrgrhhhhh! My arm, my arm is broken! No! Stay the fuck away y-you monster!”

The combatants on the wall began to fall as they somehow managed to push off the invaders. Casualties were mounting. The onnikai attacked and fought indiscriminately, tearing and tackling any human with blood-red eyes and wrath-filled roars.

At this point, were the onnikais redeemable despite all the pain and suffering they were causing due to their hatred? Their lives ended horribly due to the cruelty of the humans in the “War for the Faefolk,” but weren’t the people fighting today of another generation? If a certain person were to cause harm or even traumatize you, was it correct to despise their whole community or race just because of that one person? Was it right to punish innocents for the sins of a single person?

For these onnikais, the answer would be “yes.” They were born from anger and hatred created during their previous form’s death, and they were now releasing this rage. This was their lives’ purpose. Whether they were redeemable was for the people involved in this accident to decide.

“Pour down the fat and water!” Zik and his commanders shouted.

In medieval Europe, castle defenders used to pour hot animal fat, water, or sand, to name a few examples, on invaders as it could effectively burn not only the skin of shabby armored conscripted farmers but also enter through the armor of knights to boil or scald them to death, using this tactic. It was one of the earlier thermal weapons.

Masses of boiling water and liquid animal fat were poured down from the top of the walls onto the hordes of zombies. While the heat couldn’t destroy the corpses outright, some of the weaker zombies still fell motionless as the black slime had to begin healing their possessed bodies.

This created a chain effect where the weaker monster became incapacitated but the stronger ones didn’t. Regardless if they were allies or not, the onnikai didn’t hesitate to trample on their allies to reach the gates. This would further delay the resuscitation of the corpses.

“Now, men! Like Lady Hestia instructed, pull the pin from these bombs and immediately throw them into the hordes! These tools were blessed by a Shrine Maiden of the Goddess, so handle them well! For victory!” Zik yelled out as he threw one of Hestia’s holy flame bombs.

Oh, Goddess, I pray to you, grant me the strength to fulfill my duty!

As the balls crashed into the horde, multiple massive explosions rocked the walls of the castle, creating cracks on it like a flimsy sword. Unfortunately for the seneschal, when Hestia made these bombs, she didn’t have the word “moderation” in mind. Although, for the defense of the castle, it was a blessing.

White flames burst from the bombs and began incinerating the animal fat. The zombies at the epicenter of the explosion were blown to bits while any not killed by the bombs were quickly set on fire by the burning animal fat. The flames grew and grew, turning corpses into ashes and destroying black slimes, however, the castle gate was torn into pieces.

Shit! That was too powerful!

“Gates! Soldiers, get down from the walls and into the courtyard, now! Gather at the courtyard!” Zik shouted.

The explosions might have slain numerous zombies, but it wasn’t all of them. Still, no onnikai, not even the rank Ds were a match for bombs created with Hestia’s fire. They were scorched, easing the lives of the castle defenders, but the fight wasn’t over yet.

Due to the looprizsars and other castle scaling monsters, the soldiers retreated from the castle under the protection of Zik and his commanders, who were able to hold back the rank Ds for a couple of seconds by their lonesome. They wouldn’t be able to defeat a Rank D by themselves, but they could delay them for longer than a normal soldier.

“Uarrrrgh! Ahhhhhhh!”

“F-fuck! Get away from him, you bastard!”

“Arrrragahah! Help, help! Arghhhhh! H-Help, I don’t want to die!”

They thinned out the horde, but the monsters on the walls wouldn’t give up. Defenders were kicked and dropped off the walls, while some were ravaged and lost limbs if they survived. The few militias responsible for the healing using potions and first aid were overwhelmed due to the chaos and cries inside the castle. Even if they weren’t in the frontlines, the cries tormented them as they witnessed the puddles of blood staining the white snow of winter today.

“Shit, forget the wall! Take this you scum!” Zik, took out another bomb from his belt. This one, marked with the letter “C” was thrown at the monsters invading the walls. Due to the explosion from before, Zik calculated the distance he had to retreat and ran away after all the defenders evacuated the walls.

However, these bombs were Hestia’s crimson fire. The holy bombs had some scale-dust to create the explosion, but the other half of the bomb was kept empty so the [Sanctified Blaze] magic circle imprinted onto the bomb with [Trap Creation] could turn the flames into holy element. The crimson bombs were filled to the brim with scale-dust and a single [Ignite] magic circle.

The result was catastrophic. Not only for the onnikais and the walls, but also Captain Zik.

“Guraaarrgrhhhh!”

The wall exploded and was blown to bits, sending Zik flying off from the walls as he was descending a stair. One half of his body was scorched by the explosion while his other arm was crushed from the fall damage. Luckily, his armor was destroyed and didn’t melt into his flesh, protecting him from severe burns, while his sacrificed arm meant he could still move around the battlefield. He managed to protect his head, but it meant his organs and ribs didn’t fully survive the fall.

Uraagh! He spasmed from the pain.

“Captain Zik!”

He coughed up blood, the world was shaking for him, and a dreadful pain could be felt from his chest. His stomach stirred as nausea began to build up, but Zik kept his composure. He sighed internally that he could still move his legs, but the damage from the fall made it impossible for him to stand up without puking. His soldiers had to drag him away from the fight.

Although the flames at the front gate were still active, some of the more stubborn zombies still forced their bodies through it, ignoring the flames as they planned to sacrifice their bodies in an attempt to deal as much damage to the defenders as possible. Equerochs and orcs, and the other sturdy monsters, charged through the inferno without hesitation. It was truly the mindset of an undead.

Like berserkers, the monsters tore through the terrified soldiers and militias without any problem. Some were held up but the reckless fighting style they had made it hard for the soldiers to hold the monsters back for long. Although they injured a few soldiers and villagers, the white flames burned the black slimes easily and once it was gone, the corpses collapsed like broken puppets. The onnikais had to abandon them to survive.

The gate, the only entrance inside the castle, was unpassable, meaning the only way for the onnikai was over the walls. Although the wall was destroyed by Zik’s thrown bomb, it was still too high for many of the onnikai to scale over. Only those able to climb or jump over made it pass.

The attacking force was reduced to these monsters alone as the onnikai horde didn’t have something able to destroy the walls like the onnikai beast. The defenders were finally able to see a light behind this darkness. Slowly but surely, the winner was decided.

“They are retreating!”

As if something was calling them, the onnikai frantically turned their backs to the castle and rushed back into the woods, seemingly having decided they lost today’s battle. Naturally, no one could guess it was due to the onnikai inside the ruins recalling them back to protect it. For the soldiers, it was a merry moment … even if it came at a price.

Torn to shreds, crushed, sliced up, venom stopping their hearts—however, it happened, soldiers and villagers lost their lives today. Even with healing potions, some were unlucky and couldn’t receive healing in time and bled out. Some were heartbroken as they gazed at their dead friends and family. Although some cheered, this fight has robbed many people of their joy.

Victory … I thank you, Goddess Aurena. Thank you for your blessing today … Thank you, Lady Hestia …

A smile appeared on Zik’s face as he closed his eyes, the fatigue he gained from his tired and pained body wore him out. Despite the flame burning so brightly outside the castle, heating the area, Zik couldn’t help but feel cold like the snow covering the castle today.

“… We won …I must flee …” Evalk, the seneschal whispered as cold sweat formed on his face. “The gate is gone, a large chunk of the wall is destroyed, and quite a few soldiers have died. Captain Zik … he doesn’t look good. I must flee. I must flee now!”

His eyes then turned towards one of the attendants of the castle. He was around Evalk’s height, had about the same body type, and his skin color was close to his.

… Nobles should all just die.